Bear with me, I'm new here as of today and not entirely sure this is the right part of the forum to post these questions.
1. Can anyone tell me when Lake city stopped producing 30-06?
2. Are there records available that detail calibers and production quantities broken down by particular years at LC?
3. Am I correct in assuming there were occasions when LC production was supplemented with commercial produced ammo?

Thanks for your time.

Scorch

May 16, 2010, 12:45 AM

Great questions. I don't know if these will answer your question, but here is a bit of info.
1- Don't know for sure when LC quit loading 30-06. The US Army still used 30-06 in tank machine guns well into the 1970s, from what I was told, so I am sure they had to produce ammo for them. I have seen LC headstamped 30-06 match ammo made in the 1970s.
2- There may be records available, but possibly not public. I have read that as of 2008, the Lake City Arsenal had produced over 12 billion rounds of ammunition.
3- Since military ammunition is made to military specifications, and commercial ammo is not, the military would not likely allow commercial ammo to be introduced into the supply chain. In cases where commercial loaders also make military ammo, the military ammo is still made to mil-spec.

James K

May 16, 2010, 09:35 PM

A note, just in case. There is ammunition being made in Hungary, using the Lake City trademark and boxes similar to Lake City National Match boxes. In spite of the mild deception, it is good ammunition and reasonably priced; I have used a lot of it. The way to tell loose rounds is that the headstamp is L C but the caliber is the commercial designation, where the military ammo made at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant has the L C and the date.